Curator

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Abdulwahab Abdulah J ustice O.O. Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos yesterday cautioned lawyers from shielding litigant who disobey court order in whatever form. The judge handed down the warning after she reprimanded a business man, Theodore Ekechi, who is a litigant before the court for his failure to appear in court for 14 adjournments, even as he was aware of the proceedings. Justice Oguntoyinbo who came down heavily on the litigant also chided his lawyer, saying, “I wondered why the judgment debtor on his own volition chose not to appear in court. “Besides, he has failed to obey the court order since 2009 and he treats the order of the court at his own volition. The court exists not at the convenience of the litigant. “Court cannot be treated with disdain, it is what we all have, the point must be made that the sanctity of the court has to be maintained. It was passed to us, if we allowed it to be relegated what we pass to others....

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Yinka Kolawole NIGERIA recorded positive trade balance of N719.4 billion in the first quarter of 2017, due to rising exports and falling imports, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). NBS reported, in its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q1 2017) that during the period total exports stood at  N3.01 trillion, while total imports stood at N 2.3 trillion. “The total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade at the end of Q1, 2017 was N 5.3 trillion. This represented a slight increase of 0.1 percent relative to the value of N5.31 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter. “The marginal rise in exports, coupled with a slight decrease in imports brought the country’s trade balance to N719.4 billion during the period, up from N671.3 billion. This represents the second consecutive positive trade balance after four quarters of negative trade balance. The value of exports increased by 0.9 per cent compared to...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Udeme Akpan The proposed Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG trains seven and eight would reduce gas flaring in Nigeria to a zero level. The General Manager, External Relations of the company, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke disclosed in Lagos that the completion and operations of trains one to six have reduced gas flaring from over 60 per cent to about 20 per cent in the nation. According to him, the nation needs more investments in LNG to further reduce gas flaring while harnessing gas for domestic utilisation and export. He indicated that it was unpatriotic for the House of Representatives to amend the NLNG Act, put in place to protect the company from undue distractions. Eresia-Eke  said that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited has taken the battle of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in order to reverse the recent amendment of the NLNG Act by the House of Representatives. The move which is being supported by the shareh...

http://ift.tt/2owG0XQ Apple Inc. PHOTO/ Bloomberg.com Apple Inc. got an early start in artificial intelligence software with the 2011 introduction of Siri, a tool that lets users operate their smartphones with voice commands. Now the electronics giant is bringing artificial intelligence to chips. Apple is working on a processor devoted specifically to AI-related tasks, according to a person familiar with the matter. The chip, known internally as the Apple Neural Engine, would improve the way the company’s devices handle tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence — such as facial recognition and speech recognition, said the person, who requested anonymity discussing a product that hasn’t been made public. Apple declined to comment. Engineers at Apple are racing to catch their peers at Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. in the booming field of artificial intelligence. While Siri gave Apple an early advantage in voice-recognition, competitors have since been more agg...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Former Bayelsa State sports commissioner, Opukiri Jones-Ere has declared that he would contest to become the president of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) in the June 13 sports federations election. Jones-Ere who is the incumbent chairman of Bayelsa State weightlifting association in a statement yesterday said he has decided to run after consulting with weightlifting stakeholders across the country. The youthful sports administrator pointed out that weightlifting is a sports he has passion for, even as he has over the years been identifying with the sports and contributing to its development. “That I emerged the chairman of Bayelsa state weightlifting association was because of my modest contributions to the sports. I have been an ardent lover of weightlifting and this informed my building a modern weightlifting gym in Yenagoa. I want to contribute my quota to the development of the sports at the national level,” Jones-Ere stated. He further stated that ...